Chapter 2499: New timeline

Lex paused, taken aback by the severity of Mary’s reaction. Fortunately, he did not even need to ask as Mary promptly explained her reasoning.

"The box of chocolates comes from the Monarch of the Primals. He is, supposedly, the strongest Primal. Him sending you the box of chocolates is recognition of your capability and service to the universe, and is a tremendous honor. However, without actually accepting the corresponding ability, accepting that recognition is as good as death!

"You see, The Monarch of Primals has a daughter whose very title is Wrathful Elizabeth. Even I do not know what she did to earn such a title, but it is well almost all powerful organisations avoid her like the plague, and none dare to cross her. If you accept the chocolates, and become recognized by the Monarch, you automatically also enter a list of candidates to marry Elizabeth.

"Sooner or later, she will show up to see who it is that her father thinks is worthy of her, and... well, based on what I remember, everyone has a tacit understanding to avoid accepting those chocolates. By intercepting the chocolates, the Governor has done you a huge favor. You should remember that."

Lex raised an eyebrow - though of course, the Innkeeper in front of the delegation retained his original expression without changing it whatsoever.

"I guess no matter the race or cultivation level, it’s hard to escape parents wanting to set up their kids on blind dates," Lex commented with a chuckle. "Is there anything else I need to know about the chocolates?"

Mary shook her head.

"That’s all I know - or all I remember. You should be fine even if you ignore them - that’s what everyone else does."

Back inside his office, the Innkeeper responded to the delegation.

"Thank your ancestor for holding onto the chocolates for me," the Innkeeper said politely. "There is no need to especially send the chocolates my way, your ancestor has many things to deal with these days as it is. I will find some time to go collect them myself - once everything settles down, of course."

The delegation had no idea what was up with the chocolates. They merely knew that it was a very sensitive topic, so they made sure to memorise the Innkeepers words as they would communicate them back exactly as he had said them.

But what neither the delegation, nor Lex, nor even Mary knew was that the reason Hiran had held onto the chocolates wasn’t because he was looking out for the Innkeeper. Rather, he took the Innkeeper to be the Primordial Queens lover, fiance or perhaps even husband. For someone like that to be sent something akin to a proposal, and that too from the Monarch of the Primals, was basically a set up for a huge universe level fight!

Considering the sensitive nature of the current period, Hiran saved those chocolates because he felt like doing so was the same as saving the whole damned universe!

He would have destroyed those chocolates directly if he had the guts to provoke the Monarch like that.

"We will deliver your message with the utmost haste," Adana said before bowing once more.

The Innkeeper nodded, allowing them to leave.

This letter, small as it had been, had given Lex much to think about. A thousand years to develop was amazing enough, but the letter had basically confirmed which flow of time that thousand years was based on.

Major realms had the slowest flow of time. The Origin realm had a flow of time three times faster than that of a Major realm, and the Midnight Inn was three times faster than the Origin realm.

That meant a thousand years in a Major realm was nine thousand years in the Midnight realm! Or at least, that used to be the case.

The flow of time of a realm was based on its maturity level. The larger and more complex a realm was, the slower its flow of time became. The Origin realm which was currently evolving into a Major realm had its flow of time slowed down, which would eventually reach the same rate as a normal Major realm by the time it matured - probably.

Lex suspected that there was something special about that realm, and if that was the case, who knows what might happen?

The Midnight realm, meanwhile, had already reached the point where it could support Celestial Immortals naturally, and it was still quickly growing. Although there was no chance for it to reach the status of a Major realm, it had grown larger.

That had affected its rate of flow of time, and that rate was still changing which is why it was difficult to determine at what point it would stabilise.

But even if Lex assumed it stabilised at the same point as what the Origin realm used to be, he could potentially have 3000 years without any worries. The final timeline depended on what the rate of flow of time became inside Arch-Heaven.

Most important, for the moment, however, was the decade given to him. How long that would actually end up being for them was uncertain, but they had to resolve everything external within that period of time.

"Mary, you heard that right? One decade to bring everyone home. Let’s not waste any time. You organize everything on your end, and I’ll see if I can tamper with the teleportation capabilities on my end so we don’t need to rely on the taverns anymore. That seriously limits us."

At the same time, he sent a mental timeline to Fenrir. If he could not conclude his business before then, Lex would forcefully pull him back.

Thus, while Lex pulled open his system to see if he could change the teleportation rules, Mary gave Velma and Moon the same timeline. All the eligible women on the list Mary had provided needed to be within the Midnight Inn before that time was up. As for how they would be found and brought back... Mary was sure Velma was up to the task, so she didn’t think about it at all.